South Dakotans rejected Tuesday a
toughest-in-the-nation law that would have banned
virtually all abortions, even in cases of rape and
incest. The outcome was a blow to conservatives,
although they prevailed in four other states where
voters approved constitutional amendments to ban gay
marriage. Among them was Wisconsin, where gay-rights
activists had nursed hopes of engineering the first
defeat of such a ban.

Five states passed increases in their minimum wage,
while Arizona passed four measures targeting illegal
immigrants, including one making English the state's
official language.

Nationwide, a total of 205 measures were on the
ballots in 37 states, but none had riveted political
activists across the country like the South Dakota
abortion measure. Passed overwhelmingly by the
legislature earlier this year, it would have allowed
abortions only to save a pregnant woman's life.

Had the ban been upheld, abortion-rights supporters
would likely have launched a legal challenge that
could have led all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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